EFSA report shows campylobacter increase

There is a growing number of human cases of the infectious disease campylobacter in the EU. According to the latest report into food-borne outbreaks from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), campylobacter has continued to increase over the past five years.

Meanwhile, the number of salmonella cases fell by almost 9% last year for the sixth year running.

Campylobacter, which is mostly found in foodstuff such as poultrymeat, was the most reported infection with a total of 212,064 cases reported in humans last year alone – 7% more than in 2009. And many more cases go unreported, the EFSA and ECDC warned.

Campylobacter carries similar symptoms to salmonella and if contaminated food products are consumed by humans it can cause diarrhoea and fever.

“The increasing trends in human cases of campylobacter highlight the need for further joint efforts,” said Johan Giesecke, chief scientist at the ECDC.

The EU is now carrying out a review of the control measures for the bacteria at different stages in the food chain to try and tackle the disease.

The report also revealed cases of salmonella had fallen by 9,598 from 108,618 in 2009 to 99,020 in 2010. It attributed the fall to the success of control programmes in reducing the prevalence of the disease.

The ECDC and EFSA said the reduction of salmonella cases in humans and poultry was “positive progress”.